Date: Saturday 26th April 2014 - Sunday 27th April 2014 at University Of Bath
Entries close: TBC
Entry ages: 4 years +
Cangaroos made the long trip to Bath on Saturday April 26th to compete in the 2nd National Spring Event. Having been unable to attend the 1st event in Sheffield in March due to injury, this was Matthew Burson’s first opportunity of the season to compete and hopefully to achieve qualification to the National Finals due to be held in July.
Arriving in good time after an uneventful early morning journey, the small Cangaroos contingent watched the 1st flight of competitors in the group compete. All the gymnasts successfully completed their two routines and set the bar for the final flight to compete against.
Matt was last to compete and watched as his peers scored highly in the 1st round. After an excellent set routine, where he averaged 8.3’s from the judges and the highest flight time score of the day, he was lying in 1st place. More importantly, he had achieved the required qualifying score for the National Finals. Into the second round; we had reduced the difficulty tariff of his routine after his injury so there was pressure to get it right and ensure the form scores made up for the reduced difficulty score. Pressure was on as his 2 closest rivals recorded good routines. But Matt was at his best and after a minor scare in the middle of his routine, completed it well to score an average of just under 8.0’s from the judges - ensuring qualification to National finals. With the highest flight time score again and a satisfactory difficulty score he secured 1st place and the Gold medal.
This was Matt’s first ever Gold medal at a National event, and Cangaroo’s 2nd ever Gold. So he and Coach Tony Fagelman were extremely pleased with the result. This was especially pleasing as he had injured himself just 8 weeks previously - with 4 weeks off through injury and the Easter break, training was scarce ahead of this competition.
Roll on May 10th and the 3rd Spring Nation Event in Coventry, where a similar score will confirm qualification to National Finals.